“While survival rates have improved, a significant number of patients have poor outcomes despite surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, which are all damaging to the developing brain,” Friedman said. “With this grant, we are focusing on the development and clinical application of genetically altered viruses which kill cancer cells while sparing normal brain cells.”

Friedman says this therapy has proved safe in several adult clinical trials at UAB and his goal is to bring this new therapy to clinical use in children with brain tumors. Friedman provides care to pediatric cancer patients at the Alabama Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders, a partnership between UAB, Children’s of Alabama and the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center